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“Is she gifted, Evander?”
He stands abruptly. “Why did you ask that?”
“Just answer me. Is she fucking gifted?”
His silence is answer enough.
“Shit, shit, fuck. I wanted her to be wrong just this fucking once.”
“Who? Avery, you’re not making any sense.”
“Sit down, Evander. This might take a while.”
He sits back down slowly, his eyes never leaving my face.
“I don’t know who Salem is by name. I only know what she looks like through the eyes of a six-year-old girl.”
He sucks in a breath, his elbows leaning on the bed.
“Bella is a pre-cog.”
“A pre-cog?”
“A precognitive sees the future.”
“Shit, she’s like Astrid,” he whispers.
“Astrid? Wait, does she have white hair and violet eyes by any chance?”
He curses before he jumps up and starts pacing. “She tell you that? This kid who sees things?”
I nod. “In a roundabout way.” I can’t tell him everything. Not yet, or they’ll lose their collective minds.
“Are you here to try and take Salem and Astrid from us?”
I jolt, ignoring the pain in my shoulder. “No. I would never do that. Jesus, Evander. I came all this way to help them, not hurt them.”
“How do I know you’re telling the truth?” His words sting, but I can’t blame him for asking.
“You don’t. But I had to take the chance you’d listen to me anyway.”
He runs his fingers through his hair before sitting back down. “Start from the beginning.”
“When I was eighteen, I started working as an intern for a new government-funded company that specializes in locating missing people, specifically children and teens. At twenty-one, they hired me on full-time, and although the job was hard, it was rewarding too, you know? We dealt with everything from kidnapping to sex trafficking. We made a difference, Evander.” I need him to know that much, at least.
“I took a leave of absence when I got married and moved out here until I could figure out what to do next. We all know how that turned out.” I blow out a breath. “When I went back, I was offered my old job back, but in a new department on a different floor. At the time, I didn’t care. I threw myself back into work, focusing on these kids that had seen horrors I could hardly stand to think about. That’s all that mattered to me. But helping them heal from both the mental and physical scars inflicted upon them started to take its toll on me.” I lick my lips, my mouth feeling dry.
Evander surprises me by slipping his hand over mine, offering me his strength. “You were so young. That’s a lot to deal with.”
“No it wasn’t. Those kids found the strength to survive what happened to them. It was my fucking honor to be a part of their journey from hell to salvation.” I turn to look out the window, seeing nothing but an inky black, starless sky.
“It took me a while to realize the new department was different. The children they were looking for were different too.”
“How?”
I turn back to look at him, my eyes tracing over his deep frown. “They were special like Salem and Astrid.” Like me.
“Bella has described Salem and Astrid before, but I never put two and two together.”
